Interim City Manager Acknowledges Challenges, Remains Optimistic About City’s Future

“I didn’t come with an agenda,” East Lansing Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro said. “I didn’t come to say I’m going to institute this or change that.”

Talifarro sits in his sparsely decorated office in City Hall during a Zoom interview with ELi on Tuesday. Behind him, a bulletin board is empty with the exception of several pushpins. He takes occasional sips from a large 7-11 coffee cup.

Talifarro moved into the office in mid-February after being called on to fill in for ousted former city manager George Lahanas

“I really thought I could be an advocate for some of the issues that staff and employees have and some of their concerns, but also be a voice for some Council members and, by proxy, the community,” Talifarro said. “We’ve been having a more thoughtful and intentional conversation about what to do to address those kinds of issues, hoping to get some stability back.

“We’ll get through this, I do believe that.”

With his affable style, it’s hard to not believe and trust Talifarro. He served as East Lansing’s fire chief from 2001 until his retirement in 2021. He also did dual duty serving as ELPD and Lansing Fire Department’s chief from 2012 to 2019.

Taliffarro attributes his retirement to burnout and stress from the pandemic.

“The COVID fatigue had really set in for me,” he said. “We had gone through an incredibly difficult time after the housing crisis and before the income tax came in. It was very stressful. I was anticipating that things would be getting better.

“But then COVID hit and the weight of it was very heavy,” Talifarro said. “We all had difficult decisions to make as a team. Whether to open the school or not. Whether to have football games or not. Whether to institute all the restrictions on businesses or not. And we knew that people’s livelihoods depended on that. And then we pushed through.

“But then they started talking about the second resurgence,” he said, “and I just didn’t want to deal with that anymore. I was done.”

After his 2021 retirement, Talifarro moved to Fountain Hills, Arizona, to help care for his mother who was recovering from hip surgery. Two months after arriving, his stepfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“He had a really difficult time with it and passed away in February,” he said. “I think God sometimes has a way of motivating and stimulating to get us to the right place at the right moment and that was perhaps what was happening there.”

Talifarro was hired by Arizona State University as a safety technician in the environmental health and safety division. Now on a leave of absence from this position, he was charged with working on the automatic external defibrillators for all campus buildings.

When he was approached to return to East Lansing as interim city manager, it wasn’t an automatic “yes.” 

“That was a difficult choice,” he said. “They didn’t come to me with any negativity. It was more or less, they were expecting there to be a change in leadership. And I didn’t ask for a lot of detail as to whether it was the city manager’s decision or the city’s [for the leadership change]. They wanted someone to come in with institutional knowledge and someone who could calm or allay fears and anxieties that others might have.”

He made it clear, however, that he had no role in the ousting of Lahanas.

“I really thought about it because I didn’t want it to be perceived that I was someone who was encouraging this or part of any kind of move to make any kind of changes,” he said. “At first, I was very reluctant. But then there was a part of me that thought I could add value to the process. Because I truly love this community. I thought it could be something worthwhile.

“But without a doubt, the Michigan winter gave me pause,” he said with a laugh. “When I moved to Arizona, the only thing that I was certain of was that I was sick of Michigan winters.”

With his return to East Lansing, he finds a much different city than the one he first served in 2001.

“There were no high-rise buildings [in 2001],” he said. “Not as many students were living off campus in the city and there was a sentiment among a lot of people to stay a quaint, smaller, bedroom community. But we embraced changes and became a bit more urban and modern.”

​​Talifarro also notices a difference in the workforce this time around.

“The younger employees have many of the same values but some different expectations,” he said. “I came up through an era where people would work for an organization for 30, 35, 40 years and then retire. But there are people now who might work someplace for 10 years and then move on to a new place and work 10 years there. And that sometimes affects institutional knowledge. But I think it’s the way of the world now.”

Talifarro also returned to a city that has struggled through several challenges in the first quarter of 2023: frequent employee turnover in city government, disruptions and divisions at East Lansing High School, accusations of racism at the East Lansing Public Library, and the Feb. 14 shootings at Michigan State University.  

However, he believes  the strengths of the community can help overcome any of the challenges.

“We’re smart, resilient and we will find solutions to things,” Talifarro said. “Sometimes that is not an easy process to go through. But there are good people who remain here and work here and live here and we have an engaged population that bring a lot of assets and resources. We’ll get through these problems, but it might not be as quickly as some people might like.

“I am one of those people who subscribe to the idea that a crisis creates two things: danger and opportunity,” he said. “I think in some respects it’s an opportunity to look at things differently, to reset some things, to think of new solutions to some things. I’m struggling with the idea that there’s been a change in dialogue and discussion, nationally, statewide, at every level with regard to civility. That’s concerning to me. 

“But I look back at our history and we’ve had periods like that,” he said. “It’s a challenge and it creates stress, but we’ve worked through those things before and we will again. And I actually think we’ll be better for it at the end. I am a glass half-full guy. I have to remain an eternal optimist on those things.”

When asked about allegations that unethical leadership exist in the city government from a city employee who recently tendered his resignation, he demurred. 

“I really don’t want to speak to what someone meant, because I honestly don’t know what their intent was,” he said. “I have not witnessed or observed anything I would deem unethical in terms of leadership.”

And while Talifarro is hopeful East Lansing will grow stronger in the future, he isn’t necessarily interested in sticking around in the city manager role.

“I never say never, but I do not see that happening,” he said with a hearty laugh when asked if he could be coerced into taking on the role on a permanent basis.

Instead, he is eager to engage in the process of finding his replacement.

“I think I know what might be helpful [to look for in the next manager],” he said. “But I haven’t walked in saying, ‘I know exactly what you need.’ I think we have to listen to hear what the expectations are from the community and from Council.”

East Lansing residents are invited to attend a meet and greet event with Talifarro on Wednesday, March 8, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the East Lansing Public Library.